Marquette-bound Scholl left big impact on BSU

New Marquette University athletic director Bill Scholl acknowledges his wife Julie and his daughter, Kelly, who graduated last year from Notre Dame, as he speaks while being introduced.
(Photo:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
)

MUNCIE – Talk to the people Ball State athletic director Bill Scholl hired to coach various Cardinals teams, and they often tell you his vision was what sold them. He seemed to have an outlook for athletes, for each and every program and for the way those both fit together in the larger mosaic of an athletic department.

That vision came to Muncie in April of 2012, and by any measure brought large-scale changes to Ball State athletics, but Tuesday morning, it became public the man with that vision is moving on.

"It was a hard, hard decision," Scholl said. "Saying yes to Marquette was not hard. Saying to Ball State that I was leaving was very hard."

Marquette announced Tuesday morning Scholl will be its new athletic director, leaving Ball State just more than two years after he arrived. He'll take over for Bill Cords, who held the role on an interim basis since Larry Williams left in December 2013. Scholl is scheduled to remain with Ball State through Homecoming on Oct. 11.

Around three weeks ago, Marquette's search committee first contacted Scholl. Several people in the industry had mentioned his name as a possible candidate, enough to create some interest.

The opportunity was intriguing enough for a range of reasons, and he went through several rounds of interviews, first with the committee and then with other members of the department and school president Michael Lovell.

Scholl kept Ball State president Paul Ferguson abreast of the situation throughout, noting Ferguson accepted it but still tried to keep him. Late last week things started to coalesce, with things fully locked down by Sunday.

He said several factors piqued his interest, not the least of which was a familiarity with Catholic colleges after more than 20 years at Notre Dame before making the jump to Ball State. And leaving was not an easy decision.

"Bill had many sleepless nights tossing and turning, trying to figure out just what he wanted to do," said deputy athletic director Brian Hardin, a longtime friend Scholl brought in from Notre Dame.

Scholl said four other schools, some from power conferences, made inquiries about hiring him during his tenure at Ball State. But each time, he chose to stay, feeling a pull from the momentum of what he was doing or the moment didn't just seem quite right.

At least until it was.

"Muncie has been phenomenal in terms of its hospitality towards us as a family," Scholl said. "What you don't control is the timing of other opportunities. When I looked at the opportunity available, I just felt as hard as it would be to do, it was something I at least needed to give serious thought to."

In just over two years, Scholl managed to accomplish a good deal for the Cardinals. He hired seven new coaches, many who found a measure of success as soon as they arrived on campus (he said assembling that group was one of his proudest accomplishments). He helped create a situation where more teams were competitive than years prior.

With facilities as a longstanding issue for the school, he helped spearhead a $20 million capital campaign that's nearly complete.

But his impact wasn't just felt in broad strokes, but in the smaller things. He made himself a constant presence at all manner of athletic practices. Jacob Richard, the starting center on the football team, said Scholl was always approachable, either at team events or out and about, and usually the AD recognized and knew the athletes by name.

Cardinals football coach Pete Lembo was a holdover from the Tom Collins era, and he harbored a few questions when Scholl was hired. He wondered how someone steeped in one of the biggest-time athletic departments imaginable could adapt to the limited resources of a mid-major.

What Lembo found was someone in lockstep with his own ideas about culture and approach, and someone who advocated for the athletic department on the larger stage of university affairs. The coach admitted he was sad to see Scholl leave after they'd forged a strong relationship, but there was a level of understanding.

"I would much rather be around a difference maker for 2-3 years and see them move on to bigger and better things than to have never been around them at all," Lembo said.

Men's basketball coach James Whitford was one of Scholl's highest-profile hires, and recalled him flying out to the NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City to woo the then-Arizona assistant. He noted Scholl's leadership was part of what made the job appealing.

Both women's basketball coach Brady Sallee and baseball coach Rich Maloney noted how much Scholl's tenure changed the perception and reality of the department.

Maloney coached the Cardinals from 1996-2002 and returned in 2013 after 10 years at Michigan. He remembered a time of "ridiculously low" budgets for teams, calling the change from his departure to return a huge gap.

"Any time you can leave the department in way better shape than when you walked in the door, you've done a heck of a job," Sallee said. 'I would even amp that up with the job Bill did here in two years because it's such a short timeframe."

Maloney added Scholl's energy and drive were key in bringing him back to Muncie and retaining him this summer when a big-time suitor came calling.

Maloney said Scholl hopped in his car and drove out to meet him when trying to bring him back in 2013 ("that just tells you his passion to get the people that he wanted"). Then a few months ago, Indiana came for Maloney after he won a Mid-American conference title in the spring. He said Scholl called often, making a case for him and his family to stay put, which they eventually did.

Maloney summed up the bittersweet attitude taken by nearly every coach and administrator who spoke about Scholl. All were happy for him, understood the nature of the job and finding bigger things. But that didn't make losing the man guiding the department's vision any easier.

"It's a sad day for all of us because he's done so much good here," Maloney said. "To have him leave with the momentum that we have is difficult."